Border controls due to Corona: Forwarders fear delivery bottlenecks

Monday, February 15, 2021

Border controls due to Corona
Freight forwarders fear delivery bottlenecks

There are now strict requirements for entering Germany from Tyrol and the Czech Republic. The federal government wants to curb the virus mutations. There are already long lines of trucks at the Czech border. Freight forwarders see the supply chains at risk.

In view of controls at the borders with Austria and the Czech Republic, freight forwarders warn of the consequences for the economy. The Federal Association of Forwarding and Logistics (DSLV) announced that employees in the transport sector would have to register their entry themselves for transit trips and show a certified Corona negative test. These new hurdles threatened border congestion, extensive bypasses and disrupted supply chains.

The EU member states would have to react decisively to the dynamic pandemic development, but as a community. "We must not now return to a national policy of closed borders as in March 2020", warned DSLV President Axel Plaß. The work of the freight forwarders is made considerably more difficult by the non-harmonized entry laws of numerous EU countries. "Under these conditions, shipping companies will no longer be able to meet demand-based delivery commitments."

At the borders with the Czech Republic and the Austrian state of Tyrol, stricter entry rules have been in effect since Sunday. For fear of the more contagious variants of the corona virus that are widespread there, strict controls are carried out at the corresponding border crossings in Bavaria and Saxony. Commuters with important tasks in systemically relevant industries are now allowed to travel to Germany. The auto industry still fears that plants could come to a standstill.

In front of the motorway border crossings to Germany, traffic jams for miles were already building up in the Czech Republic. On Monday morning, the trucks backed up to Usti nad Labem (Aussig on the Elbe) on the E55 / D8 Prague-Dresden motorway. The police regulated entry into the tunnels. On the E50 / D5 in the direction of Nuremberg, a convoy of trucks more than 20 kilometers long temporarily formed. This emerged from the information provided by the motorway administration and traffic information.